In natale sancti Joannis prophetae

On the Birth of the Holy John the Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist. A fitting day for a feast and universal joy, on which I was reminded of the ministry of Gabriel and the priesthood of Zacharias, and I consider the one condemned to speechlessness for his disbelief. For you have heard the evangelist Luke, who today opened for us the soul-healing dispensary. For the evangelist Luke was a physician by trade; but then he was a healer of bodies, now he is a traveler among events; he exchanged one art for another, and succeeded one circuit with another. What then did Luke, the gifted physician, do? You heard him speaking just now. According to the custom of the priesthood, he says, it fell to him to offer incense, and Zacharias entered the temple of God, and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense. And behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. And the angel said to him: Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer has been heard; and behold, your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. O the paradoxical and mystical wonder! Rightly did Zacharias reply to the angel. He was making one petition, and receiving another; he was praying for the people, and was named father of a child; he was seeking forgiveness of transgressions, and was receiving promises of a barren womb. For Zacharias wished the souls of those who had sinned to be healed, rather than the womb of Elizabeth to be swollen. Rightly was Zacharias troubled, seized with fear.

For he was a man subject to change, even if he was invested with the priestly dignity. And Zacharias immediately spoke only in his soul, as soon as he saw the angel: Strange is this man's presence, strange is the promise of his words. Who is this, who with confident step paces the sacred temple? Who is this, standing at the right of the altar of incense? Who is this, flashing with the forms of an alien appearance? Who is this? I have not seen a winged man, nor yet a bird in human form. Who is this, who fills my soul with fear? Who is this, who speaks great things from his mouth, with lips closed, a light-bearer? Who is this, the attendant of my priestly course? Who is this, the hinderer of my ministry? Outside, the multitude of the people awaits me, praying, as the secretary of the heavenly king; and this one detains me within. Through me they have offered petitions to the king, asking for pardon, as having transgressed. These things I pray to have signed, so that I may bring the desire to the people, so that I may display the work of my priestly course. Cease, then, whoever you are, who terrifies me. If you were a heaven-sent angel, you would assist my need, you would sympathize with those weeping outside, you would be distressed with those in distress. Depart, then. Who are you who terrifies me? I have no concern for a child; why do you announce to me a promise of a child? What gain to the people, if I have a child? What benefit, if Elizabeth suckles an infant? What gain, if I leave an heir of my life? Depart, then, you who terrify me, whoever you are; depart, then, from me. We are advanced in years; the time of sowing has passed, the desire for marriage has been extinguished.

Time cooled the heat, barrenness denied the fruit, nature rebelled against itself; we have both died to the part of union: what youth did not cause to bloom, how will old age cause to sprout? But these things Zacharias said reasonably. The angel, however, says to him, as you have just heard: Do not fear, Zacharias, nor be troubled by your thoughts; I am an angel of light, and not of darkness; I am Gabriel, one of the princes of the heavenly king; I bring a command, I do not command by authority. I was sent to announce to you, not to make an attack on you. I have put on a form, I do not appear to you in my naked essence. For the one who sent me spares your life. Do not fear, Zacharias; I was sent to bring you good news, not to terrify you. You bring forward old age, and the barren gray hair, and the seedless womb. And who begets by will? It is a gift of God; is it not a discovery of man? Have you not heard the Lord saying: I am the one who makes man, and fashions spirit in man? Do you disbelieve, Zacharias? How was Adam formed? How was Eve created? How was Isaac born? Abraham obeyed and was not mistaken; and you, being a priest, do you disbelieve? Is not every word possible for God, Zacharias? Do you argue because of old age, O old man? Do you define bodily deadness as more effective than God? If you had not seen Abraham, you would have doubted well. You bring forward natural weakness, and when a divine promise is present, you do not believe, but you doubt and contend? You ask for small things, and you receive great things; and do you cry out as if suffering a loss, Zacharias? You pray only for the Jewish people; but what I announce to you brings salvation into all the nations.

Zacharias, hearing these things, and turning his face away a little, answered the angel and said: What are you saying, O angel? My wife will give birth? What then? Did I pray for this, or do I move the incense of my priestly duty for this, to display fruit-bearing to the people? I ask pardon for my sins; do I not long for the dissolution of barrenness? I wish the congregation to be relieved; do I not wish Elizabeth to be swollen? I beseech that wounded souls be healed; do I not wish dried breasts to become flowing with milk? What are you saying, O angel? My wife will give birth? And what is the gain for those who pray outside? Will they not stone me when they hear, saying that I am established as high priest not for them and for the sake of the common good, but only for myself? And that I received not reason, but offspring? I have no concern for childbearing; away, I do not want this. What I prayed for, I did not receive; and now do you announce to me other things instead of those? I have no concern for procreation; the disease of barrenness has occurred. Has not time reaped the desire, and the weakness of nature, not of union? I have no concern now for childbearing. We cannot walk without a staff, and how are we commanded to begin childbearing? Old age has denied nature; the matter is beyond belief. We look around for a tomb, and shall we betroth a nurse? I have no concern for childbearing. I seek the salvation of the people, and the happiness of the nation, the captivity of enemies, and the prosperity of the people, not wailings, and swaddling clothes, and infantile foods. I have no concern for this. How shall I be found a father of a legitimate child?

Old age repels faith; the matter is now beyond nature; the generative parts are dissolved; I mount a staff as if it were a horse, and do you stir up in me experience of monogamy, when the whole body has become a tomb? By what sign shall I know this? Tell me, O great Gabriel (for it is necessary that even the ignorant know this, that Gabriel is interpreted as "man of God"): say, by what sign shall I know this? Behold, my limbs tremble; behold, the old age of both of us, looking toward the earth. If one part were young and another part had grown old, there would be some small hope of what is said; but now the body of each is decayed. We await nothing else but the sickle of death, like ripe ears of grain for harvest. But if you speak truly, O master Gabriel, what you say, then give me another sign to add, pledge to me the miracle of the promise. By what sign shall I know this? Aaron did not believe unless the rod blossomed; Moses was not fully assured unless his hand became white; Gideon did not understand unless the dew came upon the fleece.

Hezekiah did not recognize it until the sun went backward. By what sign shall I know this? Give me a sign, and I will dance like a youth; give me a sign, so that Elizabeth may not laugh rashly, like Sarah. By what sign shall I know this, O messenger archangel? How are the things spoken to me by you clear to me? If I appear as a second Abraham, I will have the characteristics of Abraham. Enter my chamber, and I will wash your feet, since you have sent a journey, and I will set before you a table filled with mystery; Elizabeth will knead three sati of flour, prefiguring the Church. Seek a calf, so that it may grant offspring. By what sign shall I know this, O you who bring good tidings from above to us on earth? Why do you tell me in advance the name of the child, O angel, and enumerate the virtues of one not yet present? Show me something beyond nature, so that I may believe the unnatural; if the sky is vaulted, I too will be renewed; if the sea is measured, my wife Elizabeth will also be delivered; if the sun is overtaken, the dry breasts will flow with milk; if the moon is checked, the dry womb will be moistened. By what sign shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days. And the angel to Zacharias: Do you demand God as a pledge? Do you define weakness as more certain than the Lord’s promise? Do you not fear to interrogate the one who brings you good tidings? By what sign shall I know this, you say, O Zacharias? Am I not sending to Egypt, so that you may fear Pharaoh? By what sign shall I know this, you say, O Zacharias? Does God not work anything beyond nature? Do you seek the sequence of nature, and have you not seen the wondrous work of divinity?

Tell me, Zacharias, where are the pillars of the earth fixed? Where is the vault of heaven established? Where are the hollows of the clouds found? Where are the drops of rain woven? Where are the lumps of snow quarried? Who drives the course of the sun? Who defines the waning of the moon? Who will number the multitude of stars? How does the raging sea respect the sand? How are the hot-flowing rivers mingled? How is the darkness of mist woven? How is a human being formed in the womb? And how is the female found smoother than the male? How is the godlike soul found suddenly in the body? By what sign shall I know this, you say, O Zacharias? Do you seek the sequence of nature where the work of divinity is? What, do you disbelieve that the barren woman can give birth? What then? If you hear that a virgin gives birth paradoxically? And may the unbelievable be trained beforehand into belief? For from this, disbelief is now punished in the case of the barren woman, so that you may not doubt the miracle in the case of the virgin. You will be, he says, silent, and unable to speak. O the philanthropic punishment, working correction rather! For the angel chastens the voice that erred, he bridles the tongue that dared. For, it says, he was nodding to them, and remained mute. Well did the evangelist also record the word "remained." For silence awaited the voice to be born, Zacharias awaited John, the old man awaited the child, the priest awaited the prophet. In which the angel says: Since, therefore, as an unbeliever you seek a sign from God, receive in your own limbs the sign that bears the whip.

For you shall be, he says, silent, and unable to speak, until the day when these things come to pass. For where the instrument of contradiction is, there also is the command of punishment; where the boldness of rashness is, there also is the bridle of discipline; where insolence has kicked, there is the sentence of rebuke. God wished, Zacharias, that you should become a herald of such a wonder; for the commander of the camp of the heavenly king is born, and the forerunner of the cosmic deliverance from sins; but since you made the weakness of the body more certain than the promise of the Master, for this reason: You shall be silent, and unable to speak until the day when these things come to pass, in return for not having believed my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. Do you see that without faith nothing of what is necessary is brought to completion? And as soon as Zacharias heard these words, he immediately went out of the temple, bearing the muzzle of unbelief as his wage. O the wonder! He entered to free others, and went out himself condemned; carrying the liturgical censer, he bore the title of exile.

The people were expecting to hear something good from him, and he gestured: Let no one question me; I bear the shudder of the Lord’s indignation. O strange events! Zacharias is silenced, and Elizabeth feasts; a tongue is unstopped, and a womb swells; the eloquent tongue is barren, and the barren, fruitless woman becomes a mother; the affliction of the womb is transferred to the tongue; the voice is bridled, and the seed is set free. Zacharias is silent, and John leaps. For the barren woman had only seen the Virgin; the morning star had beheld the sun, and John leaped greatly in his mother’s belly, blaming the slowness of nature. “I am,” he says, “the herald of the Lord; and how am I bound in chains like my fellow servants? Let me anticipate the time of gestation; I will not wait for birth, lest I lose the race, lest the Lord anticipate the servant who is entangled in birth pangs, lest the sequence of nature become a violation of order.” I have recognized the one present, and I cannot bear to be silent; I have recognized the one who sent me ahead to go before his face, to prepare his way before him. I shake the bonds of nature; for I am eager to proclaim. O strange events and wonders! What the angels in heaven did not know, John, while being carried in the womb, knew, and he said to his mother. It escaped the thrones, and God, while dwelling, did not pass by the one in the womb; it hid from the dominions, and he revealed the mystery of the economy to the one in the belly; and what the archangel came bringing as good news to the Mother of God, the embryo, leaping within, dictated.

Having arrived, as you have just heard, the deliverer of our race came straightway to his own friend John while being carried in the womb; and one could see the creator of clay greeting the clay, the king lodging in the tent of a soldier, the master arriving at the chamber of a slave. When John saw him from womb to womb, he attempted to overstep the boundaries of nature, saying, "I do not know the Lord as the definer of nature's boundaries; I do not await the time of birth; a nine-month gestation in the womb is not necessary for me; I have no need of this imprisonment in which I am now confined. And why should I not break through the bonds that hold me? Let me go out; I will proclaim a concise knowledge of extraordinary events; I am a sign of the divine presence, I am a trumpet of the incarnation of the Word of God. I will sound the trumpet, and I will make my father's tongue eloquent to speak; I will sound the trumpet, and I will give life to my mother's deadened womb. Behold the strangeness of the mystery: he is not yet born, and yet he speaks through his leaps; he is not yet seen, and yet he sends forth threats; he is not yet permitted to cry out, and yet he is heard through his actions; he does not yet know life, and yet he proclaims God beforehand; he does not yet see the light, and yet he recognizes the sun; he is not yet born, and yet he hastens to run ahead. For he cannot bear to be held back when the master has come; he does not endure waiting for the terms of birth, but strives to break the prison of the womb, and hastens to announce beforehand the coming Savior, crying out through his leaps: "The one who loosens bonds has arrived, and why am I held bound? The one who fashioned all things by his word has come, and why do I await the boundaries of nature?

I will go forth, I will run ahead, I will proclaim, I will cry out to all present: Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And these are the leapings of John, or rather his words. But for Elizabeth, it says, the time for her to give birth was fulfilled, and she bore a son. And her relatives and neighbors heard and rejoiced with her. Why is it said, "She bore and she gave birth"? Because the one is a work of nature, the other is beyond nature. Insofar as she is a woman, she bore; insofar as the grace of the Holy Spirit was present, she gave birth beyond nature. For one thing is a matter of nature, and another is a work of grace. For what was happening through John was a marvel; and he had not so much of his father's lineage as of the Word of God. And the archangel Gabriel himself is witness to this, saying to Zacharias: Behold, your wife will bear a son for you, and she will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in her mother's womb, and he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God; and he himself will go before him in spirit and in the power of Elijah. Oh, of what other extraordinary nature is the birth of the child! It was extraordinary, and not natural; for the one who begets begets with pleasure, but the one who gives birth gives birth in pains. Since, then, Zacharias disbelieved, but Elizabeth did not doubt, receiving the late-born child beyond hope, for this reason she is said both to bear and to give birth: the one on account of nature, the other on account of faith. For the one who begets, as I said before, begets with pleasure; but the one who gives birth gives birth in pains. But what pain was there for Elizabeth, where the presence of the Holy Spirit was, and not the circuit of an inexperienced midwife? When the work is of grace, not the burden of nature?

And how, listen. The pain was pitiable in comparison to the joy. For John did not receive grace at his birth, but having received the garment of sanctification from his mother’s womb itself, he became a paradoxical commander, as the angel said: He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and he himself will go forth before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. Who will go forth before whom? John before the Lord Christ; for this reason he is called the Forerunner, as one may hear John himself saying about the Savior: A man comes after me who has come before me; after, because of time; before, because of the throne. And why did Gabriel say that John would ride ahead of the King Christ in the spirit and power of Elijah the Thesbite? Listen attentively: Elijah is interpreted as God. Since John had God within himself—for he was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and the Spirit is God—concerning this the Lord said through the prophet long ago: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who will prepare your way before you, and will turn many from error to truth. For this reason John proceeds before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, because John also had many things very similar to Elijah. Indeed, the infant is born, and the voice is restored to the father. For when Zacharias was asked what the child should be called, he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, saying: John is his name.

The one who did not believe the angel’s words was now compelled to write down the vision, proclaiming in writing; the one who did not then receive with his ear what was said now legislates with his hand, writing what was happening. And having given the name to the child, he recovered his voice. Whence, it says, all marveled. For immediately his mouth was opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke blessing God. O the paradoxical and strange miracle! A child’s name is written, and a father’s mute mouth is opened; John is called, and the tongue of the caller is set in rhythm. Do you see that we did not err, and that we, having given the fitting explanation without hindrance, did not err? For behold, the very name of this righteous one opens a mouth of silence and rouses a sluggish tongue. For thus John’s voice is shown to cry out, that even the name itself becomes an activity of voice. I, he says, am a voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. O the miracle! The Word is coming, and the voice proclaims beforehand; the Master arrives, and the servant is sent ahead; the King is present, and the soldier is prepared. Let us therefore rejoice and be glad, that Elizabeth gave birth, and Zacharias spoke; that a barren woman bore a child, and the old man cried out, that

A wax-covered writing tablet was sought, and a priestly tongue was loosed, and his voice returned. For the Forerunner had appeared, and the whole world rejoiced. But here it was necessary to end the discourse; Zacharias, however, does not permit it, crying out: “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and wrought redemption for his people.” O the paradoxical things! What does Zacharias say? The first voice after the resurrection Zacharias cried out: “Blessed is the Lord.” What then? Did Zacharias die and rise again? He did not die physically; but he endured something similar to death. For from within, as if in a tomb, he kept silence, and was bound with swaddling bands, the bonds of his tongue; he passed his life not breathing the priesthood; and he endured lamentation, the gloom of the people. For when a priest is idle, all those who intercede fall into mourning. This first voice Zacharias cried out after this figurative resurrection: “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel.” O Zacharias, if you had not beheld the spiritual ear of grain, you would not have recognized the spiritual farmer; if you had not received the gift, you would not have blessed the giver. But Zacharias prophetically praised God with a hymn worthy of the gift. Let us also cry out: “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Christians, for he has visited and wrought redemption for his people.” To him is the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.